ACA (BCBS) rate hikes?

[niven]

Our ACA bronze plan premium went down 2.6% from 2019 to 2020. I just got information from the insurer that the premium for 2021 will be another 4% lower next year for the same plan.

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saydiver FLBlue rates for 2021 are already online. Here's the difference based on aging: The same plan for a 42 yo male is $582. For a 52 yo male it's $858 and for a 64 yo male it's 1,318.80. Also for 2021 the deductible is no longer $6,000 a year. To keep rates lower the deductible has been raised to $6,850/pp.

Missed the point again.
Premiums for many in Florida who are between 60 and 65 went up in one year by much more monies than what would theoretically be due just for aging reasons.
Not talking about the difference of 10 years in age.
If you want to keep going, I will keep going too.........

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dtail Missed the point again. Premiums for many in Florida who are between 60 and 65 went up in one year by much more monies than what would theoretically be due just for aging reasons. Not talking about the difference of 10 years in age. If you want to keep going, I will keep going too.........

The premium for a 64 year old can be no more than 3X the premium for a 26 year old. Once that structure is in place, the % price increase for the 64 year old has to be the same as for everyone else.

[Dtail]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MichaelB The premium for a 64 year old can be no more than 3X the premium for a 26 year old. Once that structure is in place, the % price increase for the 64 year old has to be the same as for everyone else.

In different words, effectively what I was saying.

[bobandsherry]

It appears that FLBlue may have revamped their plan offerings for 2021, making some of the Silver plans more affordable/desirable. While I can't see plans with subsidy yet for 2021 I can see the plans w/o subsidy. Many new Silver plans, so unless those are only available off-market w/o subsidy I'll have to wait and see. Lowest priced Silver plan for 2021 is only a few bucks more/month than Bronze plan I currently have (it was almost $300/mo gap last year), lower deductible and DrCoPay. Florida has seen increase in new providers into the market, used to be 2 for my area and now 6 so will assume that's causing FLBlue to restructure their plans.

[saydiver]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dtail Missed the point again. Premiums for many in Florida who are between 60 and 65 went up in one year by much more monies than what would theoretically be due just for aging reasons. Not talking about the difference of 10 years in age. If you want to keep going, I will keep going too.........

I didn't miss your point. For ACA individual plans there are only three factors used to calculate rates. They are age, geographic location and tobacco use. PERIOD!

The large increase could be a correction of a prior year mistake or even anticipation of future costs. I recently saw an article where some insurance companies have COVID-19 vaccine costs already built in and others do not.

[Earl E Retyre]

Just received our BCBS packet in the mail. Our Tx Bronze Plan rates are going up 13% from $1,388/mos to $1,573. I hope ACA continues so we can continue getting a discount.

[meleana]

I’m in NH which has no state plan so on Federal Silver. I have very little income and have been paying $40 per month. I have not received anything about 2021 rates. A broker I dealt with said if my income will be the same next year it will renew automatically. I have no clue as to what the premium will be.

[Maidensong]

Last year, my DH went on Medicare. When I was on ACA by myself, my monthly payment was more than what we'd paid for both of us pre-Medicare (over $600 a month for the cheapest silver plan in MO just for me). Plus the DH had to pay his portion for Part A & B ($144.60 a month) as well as start his Plan G supplement ($126 a month) and Part D for $13.20 a month. During the transition, we paid nearly $900 a month for health insurance. (Not counting all the co-pays for care & meds!) Then when I started Medicare in February of this year, our month expenditure for health insurance dropped to $576.30 a month. We've had no fewer than three house payments that were less than that, but I look at it as insurance for not only our health, but as a protection against financial ruin. The ACA deductibles were brutal.

[davidfin]

I transitioned last April. For me, I dispensed with the ACA for Q1 2020 since my income disqualified me from any subsidy. It took awhile but I managed my MAGI to maximize the subsidy until I consumed my ready reserve of cash. I was a quarter early, but not bad as I maximized the subsidy for 6 years. Instead I found the least expensive policy that was High Deductible & qualified for HSA. Kaiser fit the bill for $690/month. Never used it except to get a free shingles vaccine.

[RunningBum]

When I've checked the off-market plans in my area, they were the same plans and prices. But I guess I should keep checking every year.

[BeachOrCity]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobandsherry Would be curious how much the Covid-19 pandemic is influencing rates. Have to imagine much higher costs for treatment, something is driving up the costs.

I sat in on a rate commissioner hearing this year.
Insurance companies didn’t want to talk about it, but when pressed, admitted costs have been lower because of all the deferred procedures.
But they are terrified a surge in Covid will flip it the other way big time.

[BeachOrCity]

So I got my proposed 35% Non subsidized rate increase earlier this year.
Did my research and looked at their filing. The catastrophic plan had a 49% claims ratio.

So I went and testified at the insurance rate hearing. New insurance commissioner in town. Made a big stink.

Net of it was they lowered it to 5% increase.

Turns out catastrophic plans don’t have all the claims ratio protections as the metal level plans.

But in the end the head of the local Aca insurance exchange Called to thank me for publicly shaming the local BCBS provider which was a large part of how they got them down.

[MBSC]

2021 ACA plans are on HealthSherpa.com. If you visited the site recently, delete the HealthSherpa cookies in your browser to see the new webpage. If you get a Special Enrollment page, choose coverage loss. It defaults to 2021 plans.

My area has a new insurer (Molina) for 2021. We also have "expanded bronze" plans (56%-65% actuarial value) in addition to Bronze (56%-62%).

[PaunchyPirate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBSC 2021 ACA plans are on HealthSherpa.com. If you visited the site recently, delete the HealthSherpa cookies in your browser to see the new webpage. If you get a Special Enrollment page, choose coverage loss. It defaults to 2021 plans. My area has a new insurer (Molina) for 2021. We also have "expanded bronze" plans (56%-65% actuarial value) in addition to Bronze (56%-62%).

[Edited to add -- ignore my statement below. PA has left the federal exchange, so probably won't be in healthsherpa either.)

I think the HealthSherpa update might still be in progress. I cleared my browser cookies/cache and gave it a try. I see a link at the top of the page that shows 2021 plans as being available and "Start Shopping". When I click it, the next few screens still refer to 2020 and the plans it eventually shows me are still from 2020. At least that's my results here in PA.

What is odd is that I also see a "Expanded Bronze" label on a couple BCBS plans. I don't recall seeing that before. But when I drill into the details of the plans, the documents still show they are for 2020 and not 2021.

I think they are updating this weekend. It's not surprising that they don't update all states at the same time.

[Sarah S]

Do you think it may because PA is switching to their own exchange? MA has its own and I have never been able to use healthsherpa. I think it is only for plans through the federal exchange?

[PaunchyPirate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sarah S Do you think it may because PA is switching to their own exchange? MA has its own and I have never been able to use healthsherpa. I think it is only for plans through the federal exchange?

Doh! Yes. I'm sure that's what the problem is. And I knew this and still went to healthsherpa. My bad. PA is indeed starting its own exchange on November 1. I've been checking the new PA exchange site daily -- pennie.com

Sorry to confuse anyone. Carry on with your healthsherpa research!

[Born2Fish]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MBSC 2021 ACA plans are on HealthSherpa.com. If you visited the site recently, delete the HealthSherpa cookies in your browser to see the new webpage. If you get a Special Enrollment page, choose coverage loss. It defaults to 2021 plans. My area has a new insurer (Molina) for 2021. We also have "expanded bronze" plans (56%-65% actuarial value) in addition to Bronze (56%-62%).

Thanks for the heads up on HealthSherpa. I'm in NC.

2021 BCBS Bronze (broad network) HDHP w/HSA...Me(62) + DW(57)...$1849/month premium (last year $1979)...fully subsidized, so $0/month net premium, $14000 deductible.

[sengsational]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeachOrCity So I went and testified at the insurance rate hearing. New insurance commissioner in town. Made a big stink.

Thanks for doing that. There aren't many things we can do that make a difference to the medical industrial complex, and too many people think complaining on Facebook is "doing something"

[BoodaGazelle]

Thanks again to all new replies.. it is still a little mind-blowing to see these un-subsidized costs.